Why Guitarist Peter Frampton Ran Away with the Circus

Peter Frampton was a veteran guitarist by the time he released 1976’s double live album “Frampton Comes Alive!” Though just 26 years old, he had already founded Humble Pie and played on many landmark recordings, including George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass and Harry Nilsson’s “Son of Schmilsson.” Still, when “Comes Alive!” sold 16-million copies, Frampton became more known for his goldilocks than his golden chops and his career became viewed through a pop prism, which eventually led to disappointment and his retreat from the spotlight.

Over the past 20 years, Frampton has rebuilt his reputation as a guitarist first and foremost, a process that has peaked with Frampton’s Guitar Circus, his current tour featuring a rotating cast of guest pickers, including B.B. King, Steve Cropper, Sonny Landreth and others. Tomorrow night, the circus pulls into New York’s Beacon Theatre, with the Robert Cray Band opening and special guests Roger McGuinn (the Byrds) and Don Felder (the Eagles). We caught up with Frampton on the road.

What is the concept behind the Guitar Circus?

I took a year off after completing The Frampton Comes Alive 35th Anniversary tour in March, 2012. It was probably the most successful tour I’ve done – 116 three-hour shows over 13 months — and my manager Ken Levitan and I had to decide how to top that. I decided that I wanted to have lots of guitar players, with someone I really admire opening the evening and returning to jam with me, and old and new friends sit in and do a couple of numbers of theirs and mine. I wanted to make it a real circus, where anything can happen.

How did you choose the guests?

We sat down and made a list and lo and behold, the first person to say they were in was B.B. King. You could have blown me away with a feather. I was so honored that he wanted to leave home and join the circus – my circus! Then it was like a deck of cards falling: Steve Cropper, Vernon Reid, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Roger McGuinn, Steve Lukather, David Hidalgo, Mike McCready, Vinnie Moore, Rick Nielsen, Dean DeLeo. We wanted it to be special and it is; people are not just getting their regular “here he is again” show and they are responding wonderfully.

Instant, in-depth feedback is a big change from the first part of your career.

It’s remarkable. You get on your iPhone and read a review from the lady in the third row or the guy in the balcony before you get on the bus. I’m of course pleased that fans and reviewers like the shows, but for me it’s a success because I’m enjoying myself. I made a vow when I started up again in the 90s: If I can’t have fun, I’m not going out.

How long were you off the road?

I took off most of the 80s, then my old school pal David Bowie called and asked me to play on his “Never Let Me Down” record and play on his “Glass Spiders” tour, which started everything up for me again. He and I go back a long, long way and he understood what I needed. He knew exactly what I’d been through – being this respected musician in Humble Pie and on many recording sessions, then “Comes Alive!” became a huge phenomenal success and I was turned into this pop star and the music was forgotten. I had a long track record, but a picture is worth 1,000 words and that iconic photo of me on the cover of “Comes Alive!” changed my image forever. People called me “the singer Peter Frampton” and that really disturbed me. David saw this, understood what I needed and reintroduced me to the world as a guitar player. I can never thank him enough for that. He’s a very clear thinker and a very clever man.

And now this tour is putting an exclamation point on “I’m a guitar player first.”

Absolutely, and the fact that all these incredible players are joining me is such an honor. It’s more about guitar than it is about me.

Do you still play the “Frampton Comes Alive” material?

Yes. We do what people would really want to hear; if I didn’t do “Do You Feel Like I Do” people would be very upset and I enjoy doing it because we all get to stretch out and play. Comes Alive is a very musical album. That was a great band and there’s a lot of great guitar playing on there — and I played it.

I’m proud that that is the one people will remember me by. I understand. Every time I go somewhere, it’s the same headline: “Frampton Comes Alive Again in Worcester.”

Some day I will drop dead and the headline will be “Frampton Comes Dead” and the first line will be “…known primarily for Frampton Comes Alive… “ I wish I could be around to chuckle at that.